Wearing of the Green
by selene2selene
Summary: Set in the trio's fifth year. Hermione finds out about an unsanctioned party in the Common Room.


The Fat Lady closed behind her with a sense of finality. What awaited her within the Common Room was a sight right out of one her worst nightmares. The whole room had been transformed; in every available space tiny leprechauns sat upon their pots of gold peering distrustfully at the students. Several of the little guys had actually buried their pots in the mounds of shamrocks that carpeted the stone floor of the Common Room.

Fred and George were handing out butterbeers to the raucous crowd. Every once in a while they would offer the older students a suspicious looking bottle that, judging by the look on the students faces, wasn't butterbeer. The two of them had made her life "more interesting" since she had stood up to them about testing their products on the first years.

iWhat are they up to now?/i she thought with her eyes narrowing.

Her book bag fell to the ground next to her with a loud thump; the students closest to the door looked at her expression and tried to get out of her way. Her prefect's badge was polished to a dangerous glint as she thought exactly how many points to take away from Gryffindor for this unsanctioned party.

iAll of this right before my most important test in Potions! I swear, they only act up according to my testing schedule.../i

Seamus' loud laugh was almost drowned out by Lavender and Parvarti's off-key rendition of some Weird Sister's song. Hermione picked out a few words here and there and realized that she actually knew the song that they were warbling - badly. "...Wasn't it the truth I told you, lots of fun at Finnegan's wake!" Definitely bnot/b one of the the Weird Sister's tunes and judging by the looks the Seamus was shooting them it wasn't a favorite of his.

iMerlin! They can utterly destroy a song./i

Then it hit her: the song, the green, the leprechauns; she mentally calculated the date - March 17th, St. Patrick's Day. She stifled a groan and wondered how she was going to get any of her studying done. It had taken her longer to do her rounds since Ron had skivved off instead of patrolling with her like he was supposed to and now she had yet to start studying for her Potions test.

iWhere is he anyways? I just bknow/b that this is the reason he ditched patrolling tonight./i

Hermione's face broke into a thunderous scowl as she noticed Harry and Ron right in the thick of it.

"Oi, Hermione, you heard about this St. Patrick's day? It's a bloody fabulous day!" Ron's bellow was louder than even the awful singing and the whole room turned to look at her standing in front of the door.

She could tell by some of the looks that she was getting that everyone expected her to shut the party down. Her eyes narrowed as she advanced on Ron, she could see Seamus give her a half pleading look as she walked by him. He really looked ridiculously cute in green and a huge, "Kiss Me, I'm Irish." button flashing on his chest. She sighed inwardly, knowing that this was going to be one of those times where she was going to bend the rules.

iMaybe I can escape in a few minutes and head down to the Library to study./i

"I assume that the two of you have already studied for the big test tomorrow, right?" She reached Ron and Harry, who had the grace to flush a bit before smiling tentatively at her, and folded her arms across her chest.

"Um, yeah, we went over it earlier," Harry ventured; guessing what she would most likely want to hear.

"No we didn't. We've been sitting up here playing exploding snap and drinking this." He waved a small flask of something before Hermione's face.

"What's that?" Hermione tried to snatch it out of Ron's hand but Harry was too quick for her. He put the flask in the back of his waistband and glared at Ron.

"You? The two of you are drinking before an exam?" Her horrified whisper made Ron grin madly, like a bull who sees a red flag; he never knew when to back down.

"Well, Harry really hasn't had much. He says it tastes funny, but Seamus and I have been having a few nips. It's St. Patrick's Day, Hermione." He said it like it would explain everything.

"Honestly, you didn't even bknow/b about St. Patrick's Day before today! Did you Ron?!" She stamped her foot to vent some of her frustration with him.

"We did."

Hermione felt two arms snake around her shoulders, her head snapped back and forth as she realized that she was sandwiched between the twins.

iOh, this can only get better!/i she thought sarcastically. "So are you two responsible for getting your byounger/b brother plastered?"

"I am not drunk!" Ron's looked indignant that she had dared to infer that he was. "I'm tipsy!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and glared at the twins while Harry tried to fade into the background.

"We didn't give him a drop." At Hermione's less than convinced look they continued in unison, "Honestly."

Hermione was just about to launch back into her tirade when the funniest thing happened, she felt a zinging sensation go through her and her hands clasped together behind her back. Her feet started to tap the thick carpet of clover and then began to drum a tattoo of quick steps. Her movements became more and more elaborate and it wasn't long before she had a large crowd of people surrounding her display.

"Hey! I didn't know you could Irish dance!" Seamus' admiring tone made both Fred and George howl with laughter. Harry and Ron were staring at each other and then at Hermione at a loss.

It wound down and everyone started to clap, Seamus even asked her to dance again causing George to actually wipe the tears from his eyes. Hermione felt her face flush from embarrassment and started to reach for her wand to hex the two prats. Another twinge went through her and she felt her mouth open up and out poured, "Oh, Freddy Boy, the pipes... the pipes are calling, From glen to glen and down the mountain side. The summer's is gone and all the leaves are falling, It's you, it's you must go and I must bide."

At the mention of his name Fred stood stock still, turned to George and groaned. "I'm going to kill you." He reached for the shamrock pinned to his shirt and snatched his fingers back as if they were burned.

"Now ibaby/i brother, is that any way to talk to your elder?" George could barely get the words out without going into another fit of laughter.

Harry and Ron had given up any pretense of support for her and were giggling like mad while passing the flask back and forth.

The student's who had been stunned by Hermione's dancing realized that this had to be a Wheeze of some sort and started to laugh and nudge each other.

Her song wound down and a familiar jolt rocked through her making her turn toward Fred. She felt a tug pull her forward and like a magnet to iron she felt compelled to step forward once again. Stepping into Fred's arms her eyes widened in alarm at the intense look in his eyes. Her arms entwined around his neck and for a second she thought wildly that this couldn't be happening.

iPlease! Please let this be a dream!/i

The first brush of Fred's lips against hers sent a shiver of excitement through her. She felt her eyes close and his lips upon hers became more insistent the firm pressure sending frissons of pleasure through her. With her eyes closed it was easy to forget about the people surrounding them with their jaws open in shock and a few openly smirking that little Miss Prefect was snogging one of the reigning pranksters.

As the kiss deepened one of Fred's hands entangled itself in her wild hair and to her complete mortification she realized that the moan that she heard came from her. She tried to draw back but Fred leaned in closer his body flush with hers she could feel him tremble against her and felt a little bit comforted in the fact that he wasn't unaffected as she had thought.

It took a shower of shamrocks falling down on her and Fred topped off with a heart shaped rainbow to draw her back to the present.

Her faced burned from embarrassment, she couldn't bring herself to look at Fred who still had his arms around her lightly. The stunned moment was broken and the crowd around the pair erupted in loud giggles and shouts to get a room. Ron's face was bright red and the flask slipped out of his hands to be caught by Harry right before it hit the floor. Harry took a big swig out of the flask looking like he needed it and wiped his sleeve across his lips afterwards.

She stepped out of Fred's embrace and lifted her wand and pointed it at George. Two seconds later a smaller version of George sat on a miniature pot of gold staring in shock at the shiny gold buckles on his shoes and bright green and white striped socks that adorned his legs. He tapped his shillelagh against the side of the pot and ran his fingers through the bright gold coins compulsively.

"This is brilliant. I'm the ultimate party favor." His laughter made her that much closer to wanting to use and unforgivable on him, she settled for tipping over his pot of gold and watching him madly scramble to put all the coins back into the pot. She wasn't sure but she thought that he was eying her serviceable leather shoes with a little too much interest.

"You both should be happy that Hermione is too young to try out the four leaf clover variety. Judging from that kiss alone I don't know if Fred would survive getting bthat/b lucky." George threw up a his hands in a classic boxing pose as Fred started toward him mumbling about death and serious pain.

Too afraid of what may come out of her mouth in the state that she was in she tore the clover pin off her chest and stomped on it repeatedly before spinning on her heel and practically running out of the Common Room pausing only to grab her book bag on the way out.

George's faint, "This is going to wear off right?" followed by the more desperate, "Hermione! Wait! Ow! Fred, you great git!"

She heard a tremendous roar and the sound of fighting as the portrait closed behind her. For once, not caring about sorting out the mess inside, she left, leaving a trail of clover in her wake.


End file.
